7 Days to Go: My Very First Experience with GTA

Every day in the lead-up to GTA 6, I’m sharing random stories as a fun little run-in to launch. Yesterday, I spoke about my ridiculous blunder with those Cyberleek leaks while GTA 6 downloaded. Today, I’d like to share the first time I ever played GTA.

I’ll reshare these stories again on Friday in our newsletter, so sign up if you’d like to read them later on at your convenience.

A Ten-Year-Old’s Rampage

1999 was a very different time, especially having grown up in South Africa. It was an inconvenient time for gamers here, as back then we’d usually only get games and consoles a year or two after launch, especially in the small town I grew up in. As an innocent 10-year-old (soon to turn 11), I already knew I loved video games.

My school at the time held a festival. It was an entrepreneurs’ day where kids could come and sell all sorts of crafts, sweets, and other goodies. The school also had a few stands and, among them, a very special one to me. You see, the school had just recently acquired 16 computers for special “Computer classes.”

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On this day, they had a sign outside the door. I was already fairly well-versed in computers by that point, since we had a couple growing up. They were always really old hand-me-downs, and I never got games with them, but they were fun to poke around on.

Anyway, outside of this computer class was a sign. It listed a few games, along with a price for 30 minutes and a price for one hour. My parents had given me some money for snacks for the day, so I promptly used half my money to book myself in for an hour. I’d heard of GTA, so when I saw GTA 2 on the computer I chose, I was excited.

I proceeded to run over civilians, battle cops, and entirely ignore the missions – arguably still the most fun part of a GTA game. Nothing quite like open-world chaos!

I’d barely been playing five minutes when my hour was up. I was about to argue, exited the game, checked the time on the computer, and was shocked to see the entire hour was already gone. I pulled out the rest of my money, a shiny R5 coin. It was initially reserved for food, but this lonely coin could buy a cold drink or a hot dog, not both.

So, I did the responsible thing and reunited it with its other half, promptly booking another hour and continuing my rampage in GTA 2.

Bliss.

The Story Never Stopped

That pretty much started a lifelong obsession with video games as they became more detailed and immersive. I begged my parents for a PlayStation, a PC, anything, but consoles and computers were crazy expensive back then, and we didn’t have a lot of money, so I would be forced to scrounge every cent I could to eventually afford a new game.

I don’t quite recall, but I only remember ever owning about five games on the PS1, and sadly GTA and its predecessor were never among them, but I always remembered that initial experience. It wasn’t until years later, on an upgraded PC, that I got to play these cherished titles again.

And today, here I am, 27 years later, all geared up to play GTA 6. We’re almost there.